


Charging Through Your Heart

by BlazePyron



Category: Warframe
Genre: F/F, M/M, Mute Tenno, Mute Warframes, Pre-Natah, Pre-Second Dream, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 05:53:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6741139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlazePyron/pseuds/BlazePyron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A somber, stoic Rhino is immedietly, and confusingly, drawn to the antics of a gleefully reckless Excalibur.  Joined by an excitable Nyx and a skillful Ember, the four Tenno charge, dash, spring, and blaze their way towards the answers to not only the hidden history of the Tenno, but of their own pasts as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charging Through Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> I've been accidentally developing these characters and this story since I first started playing Warframe. I have no idea the extent of the fanfiction community around it, but it's a story I wanted to tell anyway. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

I hate crowds. So, of course, I hated wading my way through the Larunda Relay

It wasn’t that I had trouble navigating the crowds. The advantage of being a Rhino was that Tenno got out of your way. No, my issue with crowds was deeper than that. I hated being surrounded by bodies. Too much movement, too much noise of metal feet clanging against the floor.

The doors of Red Veil slid shut behind me. My Steel Meridian “Freedom Fighter” sigil glowed on my chest, which attracted some stares.

I was only here to pick up void keys. I trusted Meridian to pick their alliances well, but the members of Red Veil still managed to creep me out. I wanted to spend as little time here as possible.

Their leader counted out the keys and placed them in my waiting hand.

“Tell the Meridian that Red Veil sends it’s warm regards.” His gravelly voice was sinister despite his congenial message.

I nodded. I had to respect them for their commitment to cultivating their intimidating image. It still made me mildly distrustful.

As I turned to leave, the doors opened to reveal a red and black Excalibur, dwarfed by a massive sack on his back, bursting with sparkling crystal Red Veil marks.

Either he had been negligent in turning them in, or he had done more work recently than I had done in an entire month for Steel Meridian.

The mark handler was visibly unsettled by the comical number of crystals, and looked upon the bag in mute dismay as the Excalibur slammed it in front of him.

The Excalibur crossed his arms, obviously quite pleased with himself.

And then the doors opened again.

A black and red carrier slowly floated in, blooping in a mixture of excitement and, I would guess, exhaustion. It dragged an equally large sack along the floor.

The mark handler looked about ready to flee. The rest of the syndicate looked on in horror, but nobody moved to help the poor handler.

Red Veil’s leader slowly walked towards the Excalibur. “Tenno,” he began, “you continue to impress.”

The Excalibur bowed dramatically. This Tenno was a clown. A highly skilled, obviously very busy, clown. And then he simply turned and left. His carrier bleeping with glee and circling around him, finally free of its load.

I had nothing better to do, so I followed him.

He headed for the Mission Control room, and I hoped that he wasn’t planning another run for Red Veil. I couldn’t handle that level of humor.

He kneeled and opened up the star chart, browsing through his options. It looked like he was headed to Uranus.

I had nothing better to do, so I joined him.

I had just gotten my hands on the nav segment for Uranus, and was eager to do some exploring. I had been in the Grineer’s sea lab a couple times previously for Darvo, but I was eager to take a more leisurely approach.

I also wanted to see if this Excalibur was as good as his hoard of marks implied.

I kneeled next to him, opening up my own nav screen and confirming his chosen locations.

He turned to me, noticing me for the first time. He cocked his head, and I couldn’t help but notice how high he had to crane his neck to look at me.

It felt good to be a Rhino.

Two more frames knelt next to us, joining us on our extermination assignment. A pastel-colored Nyx, and a red and orange Ember.

Nods of greeting were exchanged, and we departed.

 

* * *

 

The Nyx and Ember landed behind me as I watched Excalibur sprint away. They didn’t seem to be in nearly as much of a hurry. I set my Iron Skin and followed behind them as they lightly jogged towards the faint sounds of slashing and screaming Grineer.

A lone Scorpion ran out of a side-door towards us. Excalibur must have missed her.

I raised my Boltace, ready to charge, but before I could act the Nyx sent a tendril of pink energy towards her. It wrapped itself around the Scorpion, and her body shook as the mind-control overwhelmed her.

The Nyx clapped in delight at her success, and sprinted up the corridor with her new friend.

The Ember and I picked up the pace. I didn’t especially feel like getting left behind. I also still didn’t trust that Excalibur’s skill could keep up with his obvious recklessness.

The Lotus suddenly came in over our comm system. “Tenno,” her speech was slightly garbled, as if there was some interference, “what did you see? What was that?”

And then I heard it. The strange musical call reverberated around me, and I came upon the rest of the group as the stood transfixed by the sight. A blue spirit, spinning slowly as it ascended, and finally vanished from the air, the music vanishing with it.

Even if I could speak, I wouldn’t know what to tell the Lotus. But whatever it was, it was gone.

I looked towards Excalibur. He pulled the codex scanner away from his face, still looking at the space in the air where the thing was. He had the good sense to scan it, so hopefully the Lotus had received the data.

And then I spotted the Butcher, right behind Excalibur, his cleaver raised high above his head. A wet slice sounded through the air, and Excalibur dropped like a rock.

The next moment I was next to him, and the limp body of the Butcher landed with a splash in the water below. I scooped the limp, bleeding Excalibur into my arms, and charged towards extraction.

The Grineer began coming from nowhere, gunfire pelting me from all sides. A loud crash came from behind me, and the soldiers around me all lit up in flames. Those that didn’t burn up instantly were pelted with shards of pink psychic bolts.

Ember and Nyx had my back.

I crashed my way through dozens of Grineer, their cries ringing in my ears, the smell of charred cloned flesh permeating everything. I looked down at the limp body in my hands.

Excalibur was looking up at me, obviously struggling to keep his head up. But he was looking at me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he was trying his hardest to watch me save him. Maybe he wanted to remember this if he woke up. When he woke up. Or maybe he didn’t want to see the bodies of the Grineer littering the floor.

I could see the extraction point up ahead. An outright horde of Grineer stood in the way. I slid into the thick of them, felt their bullets bounce against my shields, my Iron Skin having been worn away.

A plume of fire shot up nearby. Ember was close.

I lifted my foot, and as I slammed it down, there was a sudden silence.

The bodies of the last of the Grineer floated around Excalibur and I, lit up like floating paper lanterns. A pair of red and pink blurs flew by us, landing in front of the extraction point. I vaguely heard the Lotus reporting the mission success. But my eyes were on the Excalibur laying in my arms.

He tilted his head to the side, still watching me. Was he relieved? Proud? I couldn’t tell. I wished that our warframes allowed for speech, but it seemed that being mute golems was our price for our power.

Excalibur lifted his arm, and placed his hand on my chest, his black fibrous hand brushing against the red and gold plate over my pectoral. Over the Steel Meridian sigil. I think he was thankful, if nothing else. Then his hand slid off my body, his arm drooping, his head rolling to the side. He was slipping.

I slowly walked forward. Ember and Nyx were already locked into their ships, but they waited, watching us, probably making sure Excalibur was going to make it out of the mission.

I carefully locked Excalibur into his ship, each magnetic clunk sending a spasm through his body. His ship’s Cephalon would be able to treat him, I was sure. Although, hopefully his Cephalon wasn’t as terribly glitched as Ordis was. Sure, Ordis would have patched him up fine, but he was also terribly likely to leave various blood smears stained upon Excalibur’s warframe. Some days, I wondered if Ordis’ soothing, agreeable manner was, in fact, the glitch in his system, and his manic, bloodthirsty outbursts were once his normal operating precepts. It was a darkly humorous thought.

His ship’s entrance bay turned inwards and his craft pulled away, probably already busily mending his wounds. I wondered if it would automatically head back to the relay.

Ember and Nyx’s ships followed suit, but I stood for a moment, slowly realizing that for some reason this Excalibur had totally consumed my thoughts.

Why?

Sure, he seemed entertaining, but there was something more. It was almost something magnetic.

“Rhino,” the Lotus interjected over my comms, “you should extract before reinforcements show up.”

I knew I would end up back at the relay to find that Excalibur again. I told myself to make sure that he was ok, but I knew that was a lie. Something was drawing me to him.

And I had a small suspicion that he’d be there too, waiting for me.


End file.
